KUWAIT CITY, Dec 19: All the shooters this week ran out adjectives when Filipino Action Shooting Team (FAST) Tournament Director Faisal Al Zaid once again put in an exceptional performance to bag the “Shoot me if you can” title with an over-5 hit factor this week. Al Zaid was so good that he outclassed everyone, even all the professionals, at the Mayadeen Shooting Complex Tuesday evening. Al Zaid’s performance can be judged from the fact that there was no one among the amateurs with an over-5 hit factor. In fact, the nearest amateurs were in the over-3 hit factor group. Two Professionals did manage to get into the over-4 group but even their score was over half a point less then Al Zaid.

Meanwhile, FAST officials are implementing a guideline that whoever collects 10 titles within 6 months will be upgraded to the “Professional “ category. This came after one of the shooters kept winning the title every week for nearly three months with the rest of the competitors having no chance of collecting the crown.
The organizers are also holding an yearly competition called “FAST League 2012”. This is based on the average points of the 10 best fun shoot performances of each contender for the whole year, and although some Tuesdays results have not been published, the scores having been counted towards this competition.
The categories for the competition are FAST members, non-FAST and Professional. Major competitions held within the year are not included.
This week’s scenario, called “Shoot me if you can”, was another brilliant creation of FAST Tournament Director Raja Sulaiman who has never failed to come to the Mayadeen Shooting Complex early and set up the range for everyone’s enjoyment.
FAST Tournament Director Chris Veitch briefed the all the participants on how to go about the course but before the start of briefing he welcomed back to the range one of the most admired gunslingers in the arena David Bridges who has been out of the circulation — from shooting — for some time due to work requirements.

Going back to the briefing, Veitch emphasized that safety is the priority of the range and the organization.
At the start of the shoot, the gun was required to be in Condition 2 — with one of the magazines inserted in the gun and spare magazine holstered. The “Shoot me if you can” course of fire required the gunslingers to start engaging the five targets in front of them. These targets had been in the middle of the range where 5 tires had been used as a “marker” in a triangle position. The shooters needed to engage each target from behind the designated tires. If the shooters failed to stand in front of the tires while engaging the assigned target they were to be penalized with a procedural error.
Meanwhile, the contenders were allowed to load the magazines based on their game plans since they had a choice to either first tackle the left or the right targets. On the left three targets awaited the shooters. The shooters had to open a door without stepping inside to engage two targets while slightly towards the right of the door was another target which they needed to engage with one hand. On the right side were another two targets that had to be engaged through a window. All targets were set at about 7 meters and had to be engaged in double tap.

An aggregate scoring method was applied to calculate the final score of each competitor with a bullet in Apha earning 5 points, while hits in Bravo and Charlie brought 3 and Delta 1 points but the shooters could also earn a lot of penalties as a miss and a procedural error saw a deduction of 10 points each. The total score was divided by the time taken to complete the shoot to arrive at the final average of each competitor.
This fun shoot would not have been a success without the commitment of the Filipino Action Shooting Team (FAST) officers who organized the event led by FAST President Chito Lamigo who is currently on holidays — guided by Eric Ragma one of the finest Range Officers in the arena to ensure safety — backed by all the other FAST office-bearers with the support of Range Director Gen. Ahmed Al Saleem.
FAST Tournament Director Faisal Al Zaid is without a doubt one of the premium gunslingers in the arena, the reason some would like him to be in the Professional Class but the rules require he win 10 titles within 6 months for this to be done. While Al Zaid has often failed to join the shoots over the past few months due to some business requirements overseas, he has still managed to collect 6 titles from June to the end of this year. So he falls four titles short of the requirement.
Al Zaid put together 18 Alpha, 1 Bravo and 1 Charlie with the fastest time of the evening — for first shoots — when he recorded 19.04 seconds that handed him an unmatched 5.0420 hit factor. Meanwhile his 2nd run saw him better his initial performance as he generated a whooping 5.3452 hit factor when his bullets landed in 19 Alpha and 1 Delta in 17.96 seconds. But as always second attempts are not counted towards the championship.

FAST Tournament Director Mohammed Al Sadoon also stamped his mark on the shoot to land on the Magnificent 7 list when he earned a 3.5837 hit factor after he completed the run in 26.23 seconds and placed the bullets in 18 Alpha, 1 Bravo and 1 Delta.
David Bridges, who has been “away from the range” for over 7 months was delighted to see his old pals and proved that despite the fact that he has been out due to call of duty his trigger finger had not rusted as he claimed a place in the “Magical 3” when he put together 18 Alpha and 2 Charlies in 27.58 seconds for a 3.4808 hit factor.
On the other hand, despite the fact that Nhett Bernardo’s finger was swollen he managed to keep his place in the Magnificent 7 when he achieved a 3.2141 hit factor based on 12 Alpha, 6 Charlie and 2 Delta with a good run of 24.89 seconds.
Abdelrahman Abubakar has consistently shown some real skills and this week was no different as he once again joined the premium class of shooters plus comfortably sitting in the “Tough 5”. He acquired 15 hits in Alpha and 5 in Charlie in 28.18 seconds for a 3.1938 hit factor.
FAST Tournament Director Chris Veitch and one of the members of “Three Musketeers” was without a doubt the model of accuracy Tuesday evening when he got 20 hits in Alpha although it took him 31.82 seconds to finish to the course with a 3.1427 hit factor but as he was a little slow he has agreed to get a new pair of shoes over his holidays next week that landed him.

FAST Tournament Director Richard Swan and another member of the “Three Musketeers” but who has been “out of touch” for sometime made an astonishing come back when he joined his good buddy Chris to become the last name to join the “Magnificent 7” list,replacing his another good friend Raja Sulaiman in this class. Swan put together a 3.0108 hit factor when he got 13 Alpha, 6 Charlie and 1 Delta in 27.90 seconds.
FAST Tournament Directors Faisal Al Zaid, Mohammed Al Sadoon, Nhett Bernardo and Abdelrahman Abubakar were the four brilliant shooters who retained their places in the Magnificent 7 while Tournament Directors Hiroaki Izumi, Raja Sulaiman and Vice-President Cesar Isidro failed to keep their seats and were replaced by Tournament Directors Chris Veitch, Richard Swan and the unparalleled David Bridges.

Abdullah Tawfiqi, one of the youngsters in the arena, showed that he had improved his shooting skills with his constant participation although he had only recently joined the club. He showed that without doubt he is one of the gunslingers to keep a close eye on as it doesn’t seem it will take him long to join the Men’s lineup. Tawfiqi managed 17 hits in Alpha and 3 Charlie in 32.39 seconds that kept him slightly below the 3 hit factor when he scored 2.9021points.
FAST Vice President Cesar Isidro did not appear to be in his best form as he3 moved out he of the Magnificent 7 this week, after he achieved a 2.8986 hit factor based on 16 Alpha, 3 Charlie and 1 Delta in 31.05 seconds.
FAST Tournament Director Hiroaki Izumi did not seem to be on friendly terms with the pistol this week when his bullets could only bring him 11 Alpha, 1 Bravo and 8 Charlie in 28.92 seconds that saw him walk home with a 2.8354 hit factor. Meanwhile, Izumi’s 2nd run saw him gain a 3.0908 hit factor when his bullets hit 12 Alpha, 4 Charlie, 3 Delta and 1 miss in 21.03 seconds but as second attempts are not counted towards the competition he could not improve his position.

FAST Tournament Director Raja Sulaiman and the brain of this week’s course of fire and another member of the renowned group of “Three Musketeers” decided to “give way” his Magnificent 7 place to his good friend Richard when he “slowed” down during his run- -for obvious reasons – to finish the course in 34.37 seconds with 12 Alpha, 3 Bravo and 5 Charlie for a 2.4440 hit factor.
Boris Prodanov, one of the newly-signed FAST members, completed a 2.2222 hit factor after getting 16 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 2 Charlie and a maverick in 35.55 seconds.
Abdullah Guinda once again initiated the run and acquired a 2.1911 hit factor when his bullets landed in 8 Alpha, 2 Bravo, 8 Charlie, 1 Delta and 1 miss in 27.84 seconds.
Mohamad Ali Luna earned 13 Alpha, 5 Charlie, 1 Delta and 1 miss in 36.93 seconds to compile a 1.9226 hit factor while newcomer Max Andrey had a safe run in 53.03 seconds and managed a perfect shoot with 14 Alpha and 6 Charlie for a 1.6594 hit factor.

Collect
Another novice Dawood Shukralla collected 12 Alpha, 5 Charlie and 3 misses in 34.18 seconds for a 1.3166 hit factor while Raz Sauradjan achieved a 1.1639 hit factor when he decided to fill in all the alphabets on the targets to collect 14 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 1 Charlie, 2 Delta, 2 misses and 2 procedural errors.
Meanwhile, the only “dual citizen ” — with Filipino and senior citizenship in the FAST Family — Aniceto Manangan once again made the fun shoot really fun —although he was the only one who failed to score he made everyone laugh when he ran at full speed while missing 5 shots.
On the other hand, the Professional class saw the young Waleed Al Mutawah dominate the group with a 4.5082 hit factor when he filled the targets with 14 Alpha and 6 Charlie in 19.52 seconds. It was because Al Mutawah that the Professional class was created as he continued winning every week for a few months.
Eric Ragma, one of the finest Range Officers in the arena, put together 17 Alpha and 3 Charlie in 21.90 seconds for 4.2922 hit factor.

Jarrah Al Adwani was in 3rd place after he earned a 3.7074 hit factor when his bullets landed in 11 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 4 Charlie and 4 Delta in 19.96 seconds. Al Adwani’s 2nd attempt saw him get 19 Alpha and 1 Charlie in 20.04 seconds for a 4.8902 hit factor, but second attempts do not count towards the competition.
Willie Santos was back with the group after sometime as he had been absent due to “ calls of duty ” but he showed that he had not lost his touch as he achieved a 3.6590 hit factor based on 14 Alpha, 1 Bravo and 5 Charlie in 24.05 seconds.
Meanwhile, FAST officials have announced that all newcomers wishing to participate in the weekly shoots must come to the range well ahead of time for a “dry run” over the course.
The aim of this dry run is to ensure the newcomers safety as well as that of all those present at the range. Those newcomers who fail to turn up for this dry run will not be allowed to take part in the actual competition.
On the other hand, FAST officials would like to invite everyone on Tuesday evening for their Shooting Competition held at the Mayadeen Shooting Range in Subhan.
Happy holidays to All the FAST members and Bon Voyage to FAST Tournament Directors Raja Sulaiman and Chris Veitch from JG and YMK.